1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tools, assemblies, and apparatus that aid in the dental flossing process and more particularly to those tools or devices that require the use of both hands to operate while leaving the thumb and forefingers free to guide the floss between the teeth or to wipe or brush tooth surfaces. This category of device uses the fingers of the person applying the dental floss to guide and provide the “brushing” action of the dental floss.
Specifically, the present invention treats novel dispensers of dental floss where the floss is incrementally dispensed and the rate of dispensing is controlled by one hand, or by a finger or fingers of that hand. Furthermore, once dispensed, the floss is not cut from the dispenser but held in place with respect to the dispenser, so that the dispenser itself becomes part of the flossing process. The present invention also treats novel ways to take up floss as it is used, or soiled.
2. Present State of the Art
Daily flossing has been proven to be an effective and preferred method of oral hygiene when combined with brushing after meals. Some of the benefits that accrue from flossing are healthy teeth and gums, and prevention of tooth decay. Research now indicates that persons who floss may actually live longer and prevent some types of heart and arterial damage.
Dentists continuously and vigorously endorse flossing as an integral part of oral hygiene; yet, there continues to be resistance by the public to floss on a regular basis. The process of flossing requires that a strand of dental floss be considerably tensioned and then forced between the teeth. The tensioned floss is then rubbed along the sides of the teeth beneath the gum line thereby using friction to remove plaque. Additionally, food particles and other debris are quickly and easily removed by this action.
Flossing can be done without the aid of tools. This is accomplished by taking a length of dental floss and wrapping the floss around fingers on both hands leaving approximately two to four inches between the hands. With the floss thus wrapped, a person may tension the dental floss by pulling the hands apart. Using the thumbs and the index, or middle fingers, the user may guide the floss in between the teeth. If teeth are tightly packed together, a fair amount of force is necessary to drive the floss in between them.
The forces of keeping the floss tensioned and driving the floss between the teeth tends to cause uncomfortable or painful tightening on to the fingers around which the floss is wrapped. A user may even find it necessary to interrupt the flossing process entirely in order to loosen the floss from around the fingers to relieve pressure or restore blood flow.
Another common problem is excess waste of dental floss. When wrapping floss around the fingers, a certain excess amount must be used in order to provide enough coils so that the floss will not slip off when tensioned.
Dentists and dental hygienists encourage patients to use a fresh segment of floss in between each new pair of teeth to avoid transferring bacteria from gap to gap. A common problem which is encountered with most dental flossing tools is the awkward nature of advancing the floss so that fresh, unsoiled floss can be used. A fair amount of disruption occurs when floss is advanced from one hand to the other and then retensioned thus making the floss ready for continued flossing. The overall effect is to increase flossing time, waste floss because of lack of control in how much floss gets advanced, and frustrate the user due to general inconvenience.
Various devices and assemblies have been proposed to overcome these problems of flossing. While all of them are effective at reducing the pain involved with winding the floss around the fingers, they have varying degrees of success dealing with the other above-mentioned problems. Furthermore, many are not designed to dispense floss and remain connected to the dental floss to assist in the flossing process itself. These devices include U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,687 to Whitman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,625 to Sanders, U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,821 to Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,470 to Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,446 to Wiltshire, U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,841 to Levine, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,532 to Gabrovsek.
The Whitman applicator provides for one end of the floss to be connected to the applicator while the other end is held by the hand not holding the applicator. Though this applicator effectively may solve the problem of finger pain, it requires a fair amount of effort to thread and set it up for use. Furthermore, the free end of the floss may have to be wrapped or coiled around the finger in order to allow proper tensioning and guidance. Moreover, it does not allow the user to incrementally move the floss strand to get fresh floss without the burdensome process of unthreading and cutting the existing floss strand and then rethreading the applicator with a new strand of floss. Additionally, another supply of dental floss is needed.
Sanders discloses a disposable hygienic device that acts both as a toothpick as well as a flossing tool. The problem of the pain in the index fingers due to the wrapped floss is solved, but there is no provision for using a continuous strand of floss since the Sanders device is disposable; it is not designed to accommodate new strands of floss. It further fails to incrementally use the floss in a manner that leaves no wasted floss. The effective area of usable floss is relatively small and is likely to become extremely soiled. It also appears that the two pieces that form the handles or the grasping means of the device are very small thereby making it somewhat difficult to grasp. Again, there is no sizeable supply of floss that can be used.
Adams discloses a pair of thimble like devices to fit over the tops of the index fingers. This allows control and proper tensioning of the floss while protecting the index fingers from painful floss winding. However, moving to a fresh piece of floss is an awkward proposition since one must loosen the thimbles in order to move the floss. Furthermore, the amount of tension created by this method may be less than optimal. It would likewise be wasteful, since users would likely prefer to pull enough floss between the thimbles so that soiled floss is not in contact with the fingers. Yet again, another supply source is needed to dispense the floss.
Miller discloses an assembly that is used like the present invention with the exception of fresh floss advancement. Finger pain is eliminated but moving the strand of floss in order to place a fresh, unsoiled piece of floss next to the tooth requires disconnecting one of the two members and reconnecting it elsewhere. This is a clumsy process that would be time consuming and wasteful of floss. As with the other disclosures, a completely difference source for the floss is required.
Wiltshire discloses a floss strand between a pair of handles which are sufficiently long so that they can be inserted inside the user's mouth. For carefully guiding floss between teeth a person's own fingers will always be more dexterous than a long handle.
Levine discloses a device which has a handle portion and a finger like portion. Floss is threaded through a hole at the tip of the finger like portion of the device. Again the device is inserted into the mouth. The more dexterous fingers are not used to manipulate the floss in between the teeth.
Gabrovsek discloses a two-piece device. One piece has an internal spool of floss as well as a finger-like element which is inserted into the mouth. The other piece also has a finger-like element which is inserted into the mouth during flossing. Once again the more dexterous fingers are not used to guide the floss.
None of the previous devices effectively solve the problem in the art of easily transporting a strand of floss such that fresh unsoiled floss can be placed for use in between each new pair of teeth. The various ways of repositioning fresh floss in the above-mentioned patents are all unwieldy and hinders the task of flossing the teeth. Furthermore, most of them do not conveniently store a large quantity of dental floss or conveniently supply the floss as needed. This in turn makes the chore of daily flossing an oppressive and time consuming operation.
In addition, many of the above-mentioned ways of advancing the floss tend to be relatively wasteful of the floss. Most leave significant quantities of the floss in a clean and unused condition. The awkwardness of the advancement mechanisms tends to affect the user negatively in that she will tend to continually floss with soiled floss rather than go to the trouble of advancing the floss to get an unsoiled portion of the floss in contact with the teeth thus compromising the quality and effectiveness of the flossing operation.
The inventions previously disclosed by Winters, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,573,002 and 5,680,875 have addressed these issues. However, various devices and assemblies have now been proposed to overcome additional flossing issues.